The cubic-kilometer sized IceCube neutrino observatory, constructed in the glacial ice at the South Pole, searches indirectly for dark matter via neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations. It has a high discovery potential through striking signatures. This thesis presents searches for dark matter annihilations in the center of the Sun using experimental data collected with IceCube. The main physics analysis described here was performed for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the DeepCore sub-array was included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. Data from 317 days live-time are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits were set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with conversions to limits on the WIMP-proton scattering cross section, which initiates the WIMP capture process in the Sun.These are the most stringent spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross-sections limits to date above 35 GeV for most WIMP models. In addition, a formalism for quickly and directly comparing event-level IceCube data with arbitrary annihilation spectra in detailed model scans, considering not only total event counts but also event directions and energy estimators, is presented. Two analyses were made that show an application of this formalism to both model exclusion and parameter estimation in models of supersymmetry. An analysis was also conducted that extended for the first time indirect dark matter searches with neutrinos using IceCube data, to an alternative dark matter candidate, Kaluza-Klein particles, arising from theories with extra space-time dimensions. The methods developed for the solar dark matter search were applied to look for neutrino emission during a flare of the Crab Nebula in 2010.

La teoría científica de más éxito hoy en día, sobre el origen y la evolución del universo, es conocida como el modelo estándar del Big Bang, el cual es una de las construcciones intelectuales más ambiciosas de la humanidad. Se basa en dos ramas bien consolidadas de la física teórica, a saber, la teoría de la Relatividad General y el Modelo Estándar de la física de partículas, y es capaz de hacer predicciones sólidas, como la expansión del universo, la existencia del fondo de radiación de microondas y las abundancias relativas de los elementos ligeros. Algunas de las predicciones teóricas ya han sido confirmadas por observaciones muy precisas.Según la cosmología estándar del Big Bang, el universo primitivo consistía en un plasma muy caliente y denso que se expandió y se enfrió continuamente hasta el presente, dando paso a una serie de transiciones de fase cosmológicas, donde las teorías que describen el universo en cada fase son distintas. Dado que las energías del universo primitivo fueron mucho más altas que las alcanzadas en experimentos terrestres, el estudio del universo primitivo podría ofrecernos importantes informaciones sobre nuevas interacciones y nuevas partículas, abriendo nuevas direcciones para la extensión del Modelo Estándar de la física de partículas.Como ya he mencionado anteriormente, durante la expansión del universo ocurrieron varias transiciones de fase que dejaron su huella sobre el estado presente del universo. Las observaciones sugieren que durante una de estas transiciones de fase, el universo primitivo sufrió un periodo de expansión acelerada, conocido como inflación. Aunque no forma parte de la cosmología estándar, la inflación es capaz de solucionar de una manera simple y elegante casi todos los problemas relacionados con el modelo estándar del Big Bang, y debería tenerse en cuenta en cualquier extensión posible de la teoría. Las observaciones también revelan la existencia de dos formas de energía desconocidas, a saber, materia oscura y energía oscura. La materia oscura es una forma de materia no relativista y no bariónica, que solamente puede ser detectada indirectamente, mediante su interacción con la materia normal. La energía oscura es un tipo de sustancia con presión negativa, que empezó a dominar recientemente y que es la causa de la aceleración de la expansión del universo.En esta tesis doctoral presento varios modelos originales propuestos para resolver algunos de los problemas de la cosmología estándar, como posibles extensiones del modelo del Big Bang. Algunos de estos modelos introducen nuevas simetrías y partículas con el fin de explicar la inflación y la energía oscura y/o la materia oscura en una descripción unificada. Uno de los modelos es propuesto para explicar la energía oscura del universo, a través de un nuevo campo escalar que oscila en un potencial. / The most successful scientific theory today about the origin and evolution of the universe is known as the standard Big Bang model, which is one of the most ambitious intellectual constructions of the humanity. It is based on two consolidated branches of theoretical physics, namely, the theory of General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics, and is able to make robust predictions, such as the expansion of the universe, the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation and the relative primordial abundance of light elements. Some of the theoretical predictions have already been confirmed by very precise observations.According to the standard Big Bang cosmology, the early universe consisted of a very hot and dense plasma that continuously expanded and cooled up to the present, giving place to a series of cosmological phase transitions, where the theories describing the universe in each phase are different. Given that the energies of the early universe were much higher than those reached in terrestrial experiments, the study of the early universe might give us important information about new interactions and new particles, opening new directions for extending the Standard Model of particle physics.As already mentioned above, during the expansion of the universe, different phase transitions occurred, which left their imprint on the present state of the universe. Observations suggest that during a very early phase transition the universe suffered a stage of accelerated expansion, known as inflation. Although inflation is not included in the standard cosmology, it is able to solve in a simple and elegant manner almost all of the shortcomings related to the standard Big Bang model, and should be taken into account in any possible extension of the theory. Observations also reveal evidence of the existence of two unknown forms of energy, i.e., dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is a form of non-relativistic and non-baryonic matter, which can only be detected indirectly, by its gravitational interactions with normal matter. Dark energy is a kind of substance with negative pressure, which started to dominate recently and causes the accelerated expansion of the universe. In this PhD Thesis, I present a few original models proposed to solve some of the shortcomings of the standard cosmology, as possible extensions of the Big Bang model. Some of these models introduce new symmetries and particles in order to explain inflation and dark energy and/or dark matter in a unified description. One of the models is proposed for explaining the dark energy of the universe, by means of a new scalar field oscillating in a potential.The most successful scientific theory today about the origin and evolution of the universe is known as the standard Big Bang model, which is one of the most ambitious intellectual constructions of the humanity. It is based on two consolidated branches of theoretical physics, namely, the theory of General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics, and is able to make robust predictions, such as the expansion of the universe, the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation and the relative primordial abundance of light elements. Some of the theoretical predictions have already been confirmed by very precise observations.According to the standard Big Bang cosmology, the early universe consisted of a very hot and dense plasma that continuously expanded and cooled up to the present, giving place to a series of cosmological phase transitions, where the theories describing the universe in each phase are different. Given that the energies of the early universe were much higher than those reached in terrestrial experiments, the study of the early universe might give us important information about new interactions and new particles, opening new directions for extending the Standard Model of particle physics.As already mentioned above, during the expansion of the universe, different phase transitions occurred, which left their imprint on the present state of the universe. Observations suggest that during a very early phase transition the universe suffered a stage of accelerated expansion, known as inflation. Although inflation is not included in the standard cosmology, it is able to solve in a simple and elegant manner almost all of the shortcomings related to the standard Big Bang model, and should be taken into account in any possible extension of the theory. Observations also reveal evidence of the existence of two unknown forms of energy, i.e., dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is a form of non-relativistic and non-baryonic matter, which can only be detected indirectly, by its gravitational interactions with normal matter. Dark energy is a kind of substance with negative pressure, which started to dominate recently and causes the accelerated expansion of the universe. In this PhD Thesis, I present a few original models proposed to solve some of the shortcomings of the standard cosmology, as possible extensions of the Big Bang model. Some of these models introduce new symmetries and particles in order to explain inflation and dark energy and/or dark matter in a unified description. One of the models is proposed for explaining the dark energy of the universe, by means of a new scalar field oscillating in a potential.

Massive gravity is an extension of general relativity where the graviton, which mediates gravitational interactions, has a non-vanishing mass. The first steps towards formulating a theory of massive gravity were made by Fierz and Pauli in 1939, but it took another 70 years until a consistent theory of massive gravity was written down. This thesis investigates the phenomenological implications of this theory, when applied to cosmology. In particular, we look at cosmic expansion histories, structure formation, integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect and weak lensing, and put constraints on the allowed parameter range of the theory. This is done by using data from supernovae, the cosmic microwave background, baryonic acoustic oscillations, galaxy and quasar maps and galactic lensing. The theory is shown to yield both cosmic expansion histories, galactic lensing and an integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect consistent with observations. For the structure formation, however, we show that for certain parameters of the theory there exists a tension between consistency relations for the background and stability properties of the perturbations. We also show that a background expansion equivalent to that of general relativity does not necessarily mean that the perturbations have to evolve in the same way. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript. Paper 6: Manuscript.</p>

The topic of this thesis is about cosmic inflations, including the early-universe inflation that seeds the initial inhomogeneities of our universe, and the late-time cosmic acceleration triggered by dark energy. The two inflationary epochs have now become part of the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. In the standard paradigm, dark energy is a cosmological constant or vacuum energy, while the early-universe inflation is driven by a slowly rolling scalar field. Currently the minimal $\Lambda$CDM model with six parameters agrees well with cosmological observations. If the greatest achievement of the last twenty golden years of cosmology is the $\Lambda$CDM model, the theme of future precision cosmology will be to search for deviations from the minimal $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. It is in fact expected that the upcoming breakthroughs of cosmology will be achieved by observing the subdominant anomalies, such as non-Gaussianities in the Cosmic Microwave Background map. The aim of this thesis is then to make theoretical predictions from models beyond $\Lambda$CDM, and confront them with cosmological observations. These models include: 1) a new dark energy parametrization based on quintessence models; 2) reconstructing early-universe inflationary trajectories, going beyond the slow-roll assumption; 3) non-Gaussian curvature fluctuations from preheating after the early-universe inflation; 4) infra-red cascading produced by particle production during inflation; 5) preheating after Modular inflation; 6) decaying cold dark matter. We update the cosmological data sets -- Cosmic Microwave Background, Type Ia supernova, weak gravitational lensing, galaxy power spectra, and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest -- to the most current catalog, and run Monte Carlo Markov Chain calculations to obtain the likelihood of parameters. We also simulate mock data to forecast future observational constraints.

The topic of this thesis is about cosmic inflations, including the early-universe inflation that seeds the initial inhomogeneities of our universe, and the late-time cosmic acceleration triggered by dark energy. The two inflationary epochs have now become part of the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. In the standard paradigm, dark energy is a cosmological constant or vacuum energy, while the early-universe inflation is driven by a slowly rolling scalar field. Currently the minimal $\Lambda$CDM model with six parameters agrees well with cosmological observations. If the greatest achievement of the last twenty golden years of cosmology is the $\Lambda$CDM model, the theme of future precision cosmology will be to search for deviations from the minimal $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. It is in fact expected that the upcoming breakthroughs of cosmology will be achieved by observing the subdominant anomalies, such as non-Gaussianities in the Cosmic Microwave Background map. The aim of this thesis is then to make theoretical predictions from models beyond $\Lambda$CDM, and confront them with cosmological observations. These models include: 1) a new dark energy parametrization based on quintessence models; 2) reconstructing early-universe inflationary trajectories, going beyond the slow-roll assumption; 3) non-Gaussian curvature fluctuations from preheating after the early-universe inflation; 4) infra-red cascading produced by particle production during inflation; 5) preheating after Modular inflation; 6) decaying cold dark matter. We update the cosmological data sets -- Cosmic Microwave Background, Type Ia supernova, weak gravitational lensing, galaxy power spectra, and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest -- to the most current catalog, and run Monte Carlo Markov Chain calculations to obtain the likelihood of parameters. We also simulate mock data to forecast future observational constraints.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:51:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 otalorapatino_g_me_ift.pdf: 425269 bytes, checksum: 54b8759a6432f649d63ed61ba3345593 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Na última década várias observações indicam que o universo está expandindo aceleradamente. Essa expansão acelerada pode ser explicada em um universo composto de 70% de energia escura e 30% de matéria (25% de matéria escura e 5% de matéria bariônica). A energia escura proporciona a pressão negativa necessária para produzir a aceleração em grandes escalas. Nesse trabalho faz-se uma revisão do modelo de um campo escalar como fonte da energia escura, conhecido genericamente como modelo de quintessência. Estuda-se o modelo de quintessência acoplada à matéria escura / In the previous decade many observations indicate that the universe is accelerating. This rapid expansion can be explained in an universe made up of 70% of dark energy and 30% of matter (25% of dark matter and 5% of baryonic matter). The dark energy provides negative pressure to produce acceleration. In this work it is studied the model of Quintessence, a model of scalar field, as source of the dark energy. It is studied the model of Coupled Quintessence with dark matter

Neste trabalho discutimos um modelo baseado em teoria de campos para descrever a energia escura, no qual ela é representada por uma partícula ultra-leve situada em um mínimo metaestável de um potencial. Mostramos que a energia escura neste modelo decai em matéria escura durante o tempo de vida do universo, amenizando o problema da coincidência. / In the present work we discuss a field theory model in which dark energy is described by ultra-light particle situated at a metastable minimum of a potential. We show that dark energy in this model decays into dark matter during a time scale corresponding to the age of the universe, alleviating the coincidence problem.

Neste trabalho, estudamos modelos cosmológicos em que a energia escura foi tratada como um campo de matéria que interage com a matéria escura. Três modelos distintos foram considerados. O primeiro trata tanto a matéria escura fria quanto a energia escura como fluidos perfeitos. O termo de interação entre eles é dado por uma expressão com origem fenomenológica que postulamos existir na equação de balanço entre esses dois fluidos. Dadas as equações no universo plano de Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW), pudemos escrever uma versão covariante para as equações de balanço. Com isso, as equações de balanço em um universo de FRW perturbado linearmente foram obtidas. Isso, por sua vez, permitiu que a estabilidade das equações diferenciais obtidas fosse estudada. O segundo modelo tem origem em modelos de f(R). Esses modelos propõem uma generalização da Relatividade Geral ao considerar a ação da gravidade como um funcional do escalar de Ricci, R. Através de uma transformação conforme, foi possível reinterpretar os modelos de f(R) como modelos em que um campo escalar canônico, que representa a energia escura, interage com os campos da matéria. Através do princípio da ação, obtivemos as equações de movimento e o tensor de energia-momento para nosso sistema. Com o campo escalar sendo interpretado como um fluido perfeito, pudemos, por fim, obter equações de balanço entre fluidos perfeitos tanto no nível de fundo quanto no universo perturbado linearmente. O terceiro modelo começa com a lagrangiana, em um espaço-tempo de FRW, de um campo escalar canônico, que representa a energia escura, e um campo fermiônico de spin-1/2, que representa a matéria escura. Um termo de interação de Yukawa entre esses campos foi postulado existir na lagrangiana. Novamente através do princípio da ação, obtivemos as equações de movimento e o tensor de energia-momento para esses campos. Essas equações de movimento puderam, por fim, ser reescritas como equações de balanço entre fluidos perfeitos tanto no nível de fundo quanto no universo perturbado linearmente. / In this work we studied cosmological models in which the dark energy was treated as a field of matter that interacts with dark matter. Three different models were considered. The first one treats both the cold dark matter and the dark energy as perfect fluids. The interaction term between them is given by a expression with phenomenological origin that we postulated to exist in the balance equations between these two fluids. Given the equations in the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe, we wrote a covariant version of the balance equations. Thus, the balance equations in a linearly perturbed FRW universe were obtained. This, in turn, allowed the stability of the obtained differential equations to be studied. The second model comes from f(R) models. These models propose a generalization of General Relativity by considering the action for gravity as a functional of the Ricci scalar, R. Through a conformal transformation, it was possible to reinterpret the f(R) models as models in which a canonical scalar field, which represents the dark energy, interacts with matter fields. Through the principle of least action, we obtained the equations of motion and the energy-momentum tensor for our system. With the scalar field being interpreted as a perfect fluid, we obtained equations of balance for perfect fluids at both the background level and in the linearly perturbed universe. The third model starts with the Lagrangian, in a FRW space-time, of a canonical scalar field, which represents the dark energy, and of a fermionic field of spin-1/2, which represents the dark matter. A Yukawa interaction term between these fields was postulated to exist in the Lagrangian. Again, through the principle of least action, we obtained the equations of motion and the energy-momentum tensor for these fields. These equations of motion could then be rewritten as balance equations for perfect fluids at both the background level and in the linearly perturbed universe.

In this thesis we go beyond the standard cosmological LCDM model and study the effect of an interaction between dark matter and dark energy. Although the LCDM model provides good agreement with observations, it faces severe challenges from a theoretical point of view. In order to solve such problems, we first consider an alternative model where both dark matter and dark energy are described by fluids with a phenomenological interaction given by a combination of their energy densities. In addition to this model, we propose a more realistic one based on a Lagrangian density with a Yukawa-type interaction. To constrain the cosmological parameters we use recent cosmological data, the CMB measurements made by the Planck satellite, as well as BAO, SNIa, H0 and Lookback time measurements. / Nesta tese vamos além do modelo cosmológico padrão, o LCDM, e estudamos o efeito de uma interação entre a matéria e a energia escuras. Embora o modelo LCDM esteja de acordo com as observações, ele sofre sérios problemas teóricos. Com o objetivo de resolver tais problemas, nós primeiro consideramos um modelo alternativo, onde ambas, a matéria e a energia escuras, são descritas por fluidos com uma interação fenomenológica dada como uma combinação das densidades de energia. Além desse modelo, propomos um modelo mais realista baseado em uma densidade Lagrangiana com uma interação tipo Yukawa. Para vincular os parâmetros cosmológicos usamos dados cosmológicos recentes como as medidas da CMB feitas pelo satélite Planck, bem como medidas de BAO, SNIa, H0 e Lookback time.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Numerical simulations play a crucial role in testing current cosmological models of the formation and evolution of the cosmic structure observed in the modern Universe. Simulations of the collapse of both baryonic and non-baryonic matter under the influence of gravity have yielded important results in our understanding of the large scale structure of the Universe. In addition to the underlying large scale structure, simulations which include gas dynamics can give us valuable insight into, and allow us to make testable predictions on, the nature and distribution of baryonic matter on a wide range of scales. In this work we give an overview of cosmological simulations and the methods employed in the solution of many body problems. We then present three projects focusing on scales ranging from individual galaxies to the cosmic web connecting clusters of galaxies thereby demonstrating the potential and diversity of numerical simulations in the fields of cosmology and astrophysics. We firstly investigate the environmental dependance of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium by utilising high resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations in Chapter 3. We find that the extent of the neutral hydrogen radial profile is dependant on both the environment of the galaxy and its classification within the group ie. whether it is a central or satellite galaxy. We investigate whether this effect could arise from ram pressure forces exerted on the galaxies and find good agreement between galaxies experiencing high ram pressure forces and those with a low neutral hydrogen content. In Chapter 4 we investigate the velocity–shape alignment of clusters in a dark matter only simulation and the effect of such an alignment on measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev–Zeldovich (kSZ) effect. We find an alignment not only exists but can lead to an enhancement in the kSZ signal of up to 60% when the cluster is orientated along the line-of-sight. Finally we attempt to identify shocked gas in clusters and filaments using intermediate resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations in Chapter 5 with a view to predicting the synchrotron emission from these areas, something that may be detectable with the Square Kilometer Array.